Over the years, the Visual Capitalist creative team has created thousands of maps, charts, infographics, videos, data visualizations, and everything in between. Through our online travels, we’ve encountered countless data-infused pieces – but only a select few stand out above the noise and filler. Below, five members of our creative team have each selected a piece that has inspired them in some way. Let’s dive in! — VC Creative Team...
This powerful visual from Domo helps capture what happens each minute in today’s hyper-connected internet era, and it’s actually the eighth edition produced since the year 2012. What can we learn from the evolution of what happens in an internet minute? How Times Have Changed Over its relatively short history, the internet has been a catalyst for both the rise and demise of new companies and platforms. By looking at which brands have appeared in the graphic in earlier years, we can roughly chart the prominence of certain tech segments, as well as observe brands with the most staying power....
However, these characteristics are not static—and drastic demographic changes are starting to create powerful ripple effects in the 21st-century economy. The Impact of Demographics and Social Changes Today’s infographic from BlackRock delves into the significant impact that demographics and human rights movements have on global markets. Of the five megatrends explored in this series, demographics are predicted to have the farthest-reaching impact. What are Demographics? Demographics are the characteristics of populations that change over time....
The performance for this basket of stocks ranges from a high of 90% to a low of -21%. The companies that have rewarded shareholders are at the forefront of industry trends, doubling down on a digital ecosystem through concepts like membership programs, ghost kitchens, delivery, and mobile sales. Winners and Losers The vast division of stock price performance has a David and Goliath component to it in that the larger companies with deeper pockets have had the ability to invest in modern initiatives....
Continental plates only move around 1-4 inches per year, so we don’t notice the tectonic forces that are continually reshaping the surface of our planet. But on a long enough timeline, those inches add up to big changes in the way landmasses on Earth are configured. Today’s map, by Massimo Pietrobon, is a look back to when all land on the planet was arranged into a supercontinent called Pangea. Pietrobon’s map is unique in that it overlays the approximate borders of present day countries to help us understand how Pangea broke apart to form the world that we know today....
If this isn’t problematic enough, third parties can also take advantage of these biases to influence our thinking. The media, for example, can exploit our tendency to assign stereotypes to others by only providing catchy, surface-level information. Once established in our minds, these generalizations can be tough to shake off. Such tactics can have a powerful influence on public opinion if applied consistently to a broad audience. To help us avoid these mental pitfalls, today’s infographic from PredictIt lists common cognitive biases that influence the realm of politics, beginning with the “Big Cs”....
But for young entrepreneurs, especially those in Gen Z (born after the year 2000), running a business can have even more complications that make it difficult to get basic tasks done. Whether it’s credit card age limitations or simply not being taken seriously by employees or vendors, young entrepreneurs must find ways to overcome these business challenges. Identifying the Pitfalls Today’s infographic comes to us from Insurance Quotes, and it identifies the pitfalls encountered by young entrepreneurs as well as some of youth’s most important advantages....
Several factors can cause this to happen: new technology, changing consumer preferences, supply constraints, or skyrocketing demand can all bring an unknown metal to the forefront of discussion. Cobalt could be the latest metal that fits this description. It’s a crucial metal to the boom in lithium-ion battery demand, but it also has an increasingly precarious supply chain that could be very volatile moving forward. Why Investors Should Look at Cobalt Today’s infographic comes from eCobalt Solutions, a company focused on providing ethically produced and environmentally sound battery grade cobalt salts....
The Year in News 2015 Every social media platform has a differentiating factor that determines how it’s used. LinkedIn, for example, is best suited for networking and business, while Instagram is designed to share photos. The key differentiation of Twitter has become clear over time: it allows users to stay on top of news and events that are trending all over the world in real-time. It also gives politicians, media, business leaders, and celebrities a soapbox to get their opinions out to the general public....
What Matters Most to People in Each Country If you surveyed 60,000 people in over 180 countries about what matters most to them, how different would people’s priorities be around the globe? It turns out we have this information, and it is from the OECD Better Life Index. Even more interesting is that there are some geographic and demographic similarities in responses. Generally speaking, people in developed countries, such as many of those located in North America and Europe, prioritize life satisfaction and health the most....
On April 3, 2018, the music streaming service Spotify is expected to hit the public markets for the first time. However, while IPOs are usually large, hype-driven spectacles that involve investment bankers and roadshows to financial institutions, the Spotify IPO is taking quite a different route. For a variety of reasons, this will make the Spotify IPO both an unusual and intriguing event for investors. Here’s what’s interesting about the impending listing of the Sweden-based unicorn....
Along with surging users and crypto prices, Coinbase’s trading volume has also increased exponentially, with institutions leading the way. This graphic looks at the return of rising institutional and retail trading volumes on Coinbase over the past two years alongside bitcoin’s price. Coinbase’s Volume and Active Users are Rising Crypto trading volume on Coinbase set record highs in Q4’2020 with $89B in volume, with institutions making up $57B. While recent institutional volume is more than five times Q1’2018 volume, retail trading volume is still below Q1’2018 levels despite bitcoin making new all-time highs....
Increasingly though, economic activity in America’s rural spaces is casting a glow into the sky, and now four out of five people in North America cannot see the Milky Way at night. Today’s map, from geographer and journalist, Tim Wallace, is a different perspective on light pollution in the United States. The map was created by subtracting population from light output, which highlights areas that throw off more light than predicted given their population density....
According to a recent census by Wealth-X, 11.9% of global billionaires are women. Even at such a minority share, this group still holds massive amounts of wealth. Using a real-time list of billionaires from Forbes, we examine the net worth of the 50 richest women in the world and which country they’re from. Where are the World’s Richest Women? The richest woman in the world, Francoise Bettencourt Meyers and family own 33% of stock in L’Oréal S....
Here’s how the top 15 news sites compare when ranked by monthly visitors, as well as the number of states the news source is most searched for in: Political affiliation plays a large role in determining each state’s favored news sites. Blue states lean towards Google News and CNN, while red states overwhelmingly choose Fox News. The Most Popular News Sites Yahoo News is the most popular news website in America, bringing in a massive 175 million monthly visitors....
This animated Chart of the Week visualizes 10 years of global competitiveness, according to the World Economic Forum, and tracks how rankings have changed in this time. How Do You Measure Competition? The WEF’s annual Global Competitiveness Report defines the concept of ‘competitiveness’ as an economy’s productivity—and the institutions, policies, and factors which shape this. This year’s edition unpacks the national competitiveness of 141 countries, using the newly-introduced Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) 4....
Historically, the rise of nations has coincided with the emergence of robust financial hubs. From London towering in the 19th century, to New York City gaining dominance in the 20th century, broader economic shifts are at play. Today’s chart uses data from the Duff & Phelps Global Regulatory Outlook 2020, and it highlights changing perceptions on the world’s financial centers. In total, 240 senior financial executives were surveyed—we take a look at their responses, as well as key factors that could impact perspectives across the wider financial landscape....
The 2020 ranking from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reveals just that. The above map breaks down the most innovative countries in each World Bank income group, based on data from WIPO’s Global Innovation Index (GII), which evaluates nations across 80 innovation indicators like research and development (R&D), venture capital, and high-tech production. While wealthier nations continue to lead global innovation, the GII also shows that middle-income countries—particularly in Asia—are making impressive strides....
If you look at any ranking of the world’s richest people, you will notice that most of the names derive their wealth from building individual, successful companies. Warren Buffett, who appears third on such a list, is completely unique in this sense. Through his holding company Berkshire Hathaway, he has bought, sold, or invested in hundreds of companies over the years, and their industries are all over the map. These investments include consumer goods companies like Coca-Cola, daily national newspapers like The Washington Post, and insurance companies like GEICO....
This time the fury is targeted towards United Airlines – a brand that is in full-blown crisis mode after a bloodied passenger was forcibly dragged off a plane, and millions of people witnessed videos of the incident being spread over social media. Two days into the crisis, here are some charts that will help give context around what happened, as well as the potential effect on the United brand itself....
